Tobacco Lawyer Denies Knowing About Papers
A longtime lawyer for major cigarette manufacturers said Monday that government lawyers got it wrong when they speculated he would testify he knew firsthand that the industry had destroyed documents.
Justice Department lawyers had written in a court filing that attorney Robert Northrip would say he knew that documents central to a lawsuit in Australia were destroyed. The suit involved an Australian subsidiary of British American Tobacco Co.
But when Northrip took the stand Monday in the government’s racketeering case against the industry in U.S. District Court in Washington, he said he first heard the allegations about document destruction when they became public two years ago as part of the court decision against the Australian company.
He also filed a document with the court last week saying the government was wrong to speculate he knew about document destruction in the Australia case.
Justice Department lawyers declined to comment Monday.
The Australian court decision had named Northrip as one of several people who might be “likely to know whether such documents were destroyed.”
Attorney David Bernick, who represents Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., said the government lost this round in the case.
“I think he was supposed to be the key witness for them,” Bernick said of Northrip. “It turns out that he had no involvement in document destruction.”
Northrip also faced questions about an industry memo indicating that he advised executives to destroy research showing cigarette additives were harmful. He testified that he told his clients only that they could destroy data about additives that were tested but not ultimately used in cigarettes.
“I did not advocate it,” he said. “I said it was something I believe they could do.”
The government has contended that the industry lied about the addictive nature of nicotine.
Justice Department lawyer Sharon Eubanks asked Northrip about a statement on addiction that he wrote.
The statement, which Northrip referred to Monday as a think piece, characterized cigarette smoking as a habit rather than addiction and said, “Statements in company documents cannot refute this conclusion.”
The next witness is scheduled to take the stand Wednesday. He is William Farone, a former Philip Morris executive who has testified against the industry in other suits and alleges that the industry knew about smoking hazards before it acknowledged them
In the current suit, the government is seeking $280 billion the industry allegedly earned through fraud.
The defendants are Philip Morris USA Inc. and its parent, Altria Group Inc.; Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Brown & Williamson (now a part of Reynolds American); British American Tobacco; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; Liggett Group Inc.; the Counsel for Tobacco Research-USA.; and the Tobacco Institute.
